The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year
by AussieEllie
Summary: It's Christmas Eve and the Wildcats are gathering at the Evans' Mansion for a holiday party. Laughter, craziness and hijinks ensue! Pairings: Troyella, Chaylor, Zekepay and Jelsi
1. Chapter 1 Do You Hear What I Hear

**Title:** The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

**Summary:** It's Christmas Eve and the Wildcats are gathering at the Evans' Mansion for a holiday party. Laughter, craziness and hijinks ensue!

**Pairings:** Troyella, Chaylor, Zekepay, Jelsi.

**Rating:** K+

**Disclaimer:** High School Musical and all its characters belong to Disney. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

**A/N:** Written for the _'Have Yourself A Merry Wildcat Christmas'_ Fanfiction Challenge on VanAshBreNique.

_Chapter 1 – Do You Hear What I Hear_

The city of Albuquerque was slumbering in the dawn hours. On the horizon the sun was slowly rising in the sky, its mellow light glinting off of the thick tinsel hanging from the streetlights. The Christmas decorations on every house fluttered in the morning breeze, the bells gently tinkling and the pinecones lightly rattling their own soft melody. In this picture of quiet serenity, the creeping sunlight illuminated a beautiful two-storey home with delicate fairy lights wound around the porch. Inside, its two occupants were lost in peaceful dreams, the older of Christmases past and family now gone, the younger of music, love and brilliant blue eyes. The younger shifted under the covers, a dreamy smile crossing her lips as her petite hands reached out to hug an invisible figure. It was the morning of Christmas Eve in the Montez household and all was peaceful. Until…

"Huh, what?" Gabriella shot up in bed as a loud noise echoed across her room. Looking around wildly, her eyes landed on the cell phone now dancing across the bedside table with abandon. She frowned and mindlessly picked it up, answering it with a yawn and a sleepy hello.

"Gabriella, it's Sharpay! I just wanted to make sure that you haven't forgotten about the special gift I asked you to bring. Oh and to remind you that wearing something Christmassy is mandatory. Not gold of course, because that's my outfit or silver, because Ryan has that covered, but I'm sure you can find something suitable. Also, you better have learned those carols because my neighbours are very fussy and will only listen to the best. In fact a week ago they complained that…"

Gabriella blinked once slowly and pulled the phone away from her ear, blearily glancing at the time on the screen. Her eyes widened with disbelief at the glowing 6:30am which greeted her. With a groan she rubbed her hand across her eyes and took a deep breath before replacing the phone against her ear.

"And then they called Daddy, when it so wasn't my fault and…"

"Shar…" Gabriella started to interject but was cut off.

"He took away my credit card, can you believe it? That…"

"Sharpa…"

"So now I have to wait a week to get my new Jimmy Choo's which is so un-fabulous…"

Growing frustrated because, after all, Sharpay had interrupted a very important dream involving a certain blue-eyed wildcat and a moonlight picnic, Gabriella finally just screamed into the mouthpiece.

"SHARPAY!"

"What? Geez, Gabriella I'm not deaf!"

"It's 6:30am, why are you calling? In fact, why are you even up yet?!"

"I have to get everything perfect for our Christmas party! Or at least, make sure the maids get everything perfect. The decorations need to be put up, the food cooked, the presents arranged, the piano tuned…"

Rolling her eyes, Gabriella could just picture Sharpay standing in the foyer directing people around her like a drill sergeant. She might have become less of an ice queen since last summer, but her personality hadn't magically changed. She still had to be the top dog, no pun intended.

"Alright, alright, I get the picture. But why are you calling me?"

"Didn't you just hear a word I said? I wanted to make sure that you have everything organised and ready…"

"Well I do, so why don't you ring Taylor or Kelsi or Martha and check up on them, ok?"

There was a slight pause on the other end of the line before Sharpay's perky voice came over the speaker once again.

"Fine, See you later Gabriella. Remember, no gold or silver. Toodles!"

Gabriella felt a faint sense of guilt as she placed the phone back on her bedside table. Taylor wouldn't be too happy about an early-morning wake up call from Sharpay but if she had to suffer, so should everyone else. With a sigh, she debated for a moment about going back to sleep but her mind had already kicked into gear and was buzzing with thoughts of the coming day.

So with a longing glance at the soft pillow, she swung her legs out of bed and onto the floor. Slipping her feet into a pair of Ugg boots, she padded across to the balcony door and stepped out into the faint sunlight. Her breath escaped as a white puff, curling into the sky as the winter chill hit her bones. From here, Gabriella could see across the rooftops of neighbouring homes and out towards the dull red mountains in the distance.

"Merry Christmas Eve, Albuquerque," she whispered before turning back inside to start her morning routine.


	2. Chapter 2 Santa Baby

**Title:** The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

**Summary:** It's Christmas Eve and the Wildcats are gathering at the Evans' Mansion for a holiday party. Laughter, craziness and hijinks ensue!

**Pairings:** Troyella, Chaylor, Zekepay, Jelsi.

**Rating:** K+

**Disclaimer:** High School Musical and all its characters belong to Disney. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

**A/N:** Two lines of dialogue in this chapter are borrowed from an episode of Joss Whedon's Firefly. A special Zeke Christmas cookie to anyone who can pick out which ones they are.

_Chapter 2 – Santa Baby_

Mid-afternoon arrived to find Gabriella sitting on the floor in her closet throwing shoes left, right and centre. Her outfit, consisting of a pair of skinny jeans with a cherry red top and green bolero jacket, needed her red ankle boots to be perfect. But, try as she might, they were nowhere to be found. Huffing in frustration, she was just about to open yet another shoe box when a pair of warm arms snaked themselves around her waist. She let out a startled scream, whirling around only to find her boyfriend silently smirking at her, his blue eyes filled with mirth.

"Troy! What did I say about you sneaking up on me like that?"

Troy's face became thoughtful for a second, his hand reaching up to rub the back of his neck.

"Uh, that it was manly and impulsive?" he replied with a grin.

"Yeah, only I believe the exact words I used were don't."

Gabriella's harsh words were belied by the smile which tugged at the corners of her mouth.

"Oh, that's right. Sorry Gabi, forgive me?" Troy gave her look of mock remorse, batting his eyes in such a way that she burst into peals of laughter.

"Well, I suppose I could, if someone were to give me a hello kiss," she managed to gasp out between giggles.

"Hmmm, I don't know…Isn't that blackmail?" Troy teased before leaning in capture her lips in a sweet kiss. Her arms wound around his neck to pull him closer as his hands encircled her waist. A few minutes later and slightly out of breath, Gabriella pulled back resting her forehead against Troy's.

"Merry Christmas Wildcat," she whispered softly.

"Merry Christmas Miss Claus," Troy replied, a soft smile gracing his features.

Gabriella raised an eyebrow.

"Miss Claus?" she asked, a questioning look on her face.

Troy vaguely gestured to her outfit.

"Well, you have the whole Christmas vibe going on and you are way too young and cute to be Mrs Claus, so Miss Claus it is."

Gabriella just shook her head and pulled back, taking in her boyfriend's faded jeans and red sweatshirt combo.

"You're a dork Troy Bolton."

Troy opened his mouth to protest but Gabriella placed a finger across his lips.

"But as it happens, I find your dorkiness very appealing," she whispered placing another light kiss on his lips before turning around to face the battlefield which was her closet.

Troy, who couldn't contain the dreamy grin spreading across his face, followed her actions and took in the scene before him fully for the first time.

"Woah, where's the tornado that ripped through here?" he exclaimed.

The closet certainly did look like a giant gust of wind had blown through. There were shoeboxes and shoes scattered all over the floor, some in semi-neat piles, others lying haphazardly wherever Gabriella had thrown them.

"Funny, I'm trying to find my red boots but they seem to have disappeared."

Troy smirked and jerked his thumb towards Gabriella's bed.

"You mean the ones sticking out from under your bed?"

Gabriella turned and sure enough, the shiny red tips of the boots were peeking out from underneath the bed. Letting out a groan, she contemplated cleaning up her closet now that the elusive red boots had been found before deciding to simply pull Troy into her room as she shut the closet door.

Stomping over to her bed and sitting to pull on the boots, she looked up and glared at Troy who was shaking with silent laughter.

"Not one word Bolton." Motioning a key locking his lips, Troy proceeded to inspect the pile of presents sitting in a washing basket next to the dresser.

"So, Which one of these is mine Miss Claus?" Troy asked picking up one of the neatly wrapped presents and shaking it gently. Gabriella walked over and plucked the present out of his hand and placed it back in the basket, before turning towards her dresser to find her jewellery.

"Uh-uh, no peeking Wildcat. You'll get your present when everyone else does. Speaking of, do you have any idea why Sharpay told us to bring one extra present?"

Troy shrugged, bringing his left hand up to spin his class ring around on his right hand finger.

"Ryan said something about a game, not too sure what though." Troy answered and then upon seeing Gabriella add the final touches to her outfit, a pair of crystal Christmas tree earrings, he dropped his hand and pointed downstairs.

"Ready to go?"

"Yeah, after the phone call I got from Sharpay this morning, turning up late would probably be considered as the eighth deadly sin," she replied as she turned and kissed him lightly on the cheek.

Bending down, Troy picked up the basket of presents and followed Gabriella out the door, admiring her from behind. He was a guy after all, and he did have (in his opinion anyway) the most gorgeous girlfriend on the planet. His thoughts briefly turned to the small present hiding in his jeans' pocket, before he shook his head and hurried after Gabriella. Today was going to be interesting, that's for sure.


	3. Chapter 3 Rejoice And Be Merry

**Title:** The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

**Summary:** It's Christmas Eve and the Wildcats are gathering at the Evans' Mansion for a holiday party. Laughter, craziness and hijinks ensue!

**Pairings:** Troyella, Chaylor, Zekepay, Jelsi.

**Rating:** K+

**Disclaimer:** High School Musical and all its characters belong to Disney. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

_Chapter 3 – Rejoice And Be Merry_

After a quick stop at the local 7/11 to buy a small Christmas cake,

_You know Sharpay is going to have every food under the sun, right? I know, but turning up to a party empty-handed is bad manners, didn't your mom teach you anything? You mean asides from how to nag in 12 different ways? Troy!_

Troy finally pulled his truck to a halt outside the Evans' mansion. The ostentatious house was covered in every sparkly Christmas decoration known to man. There were tinsel and icicles, reindeers and Santas, sleighs, bells and wreaths galore. Gabriella was sure that at night, the amount of lights strung up on the roof alone must create a glow visible from space just like the Great Wall of China.

"Well, they certainly like their decorations don't they?" Troy smirked as he saw the look of disbelief on Gabriella's face.

"Uh huh," she replied, still staring in awe at the virtual cornucopia of Christmas before them. Shaking his head, Troy hopped out of the truck and lifted both Gabriella's basket and his own sack of presents out of the back. Placing the sack on top of the basket and tucking it under one arm, he locked the doors before intertwining his other hand with Gabriella's as they both followed the fake-snow covered path to the front door.

After ringing the bell, one of the maids ushered them inside and directed them towards the back of the house. The inside of the mansion seemed to be even worse than the outside. Every possible surface was covered in Christmas-coloured fabric or ornaments, from the hall tables to the paintings on the walls. Even the carpet had been covered with red and green rugs. It was like living in a psychedelic version of a Martha Stewart Christmas episode.

Troy and Gabriella exchanged glances of amusement, there was definitely no mistaking that Sharpay had been the driving force behind the decorations. She always had to turn every little thing into a theatrical production and obviously Christmas was no exception. Continuing on their journey through the house they suddenly heard Chad's loud guffaw emanating from behind a set of large wooden doors at the end of the hallway. Pushing them open, Gabriella clumsily stopped in her tracks, causing Troy to bump into her from behind. With a frown, he craned his neck over her shoulder to see what had caused her to stop.

What he saw was a large and spacious room with Christmas decorations as over-the-top and sparkly as in the rest of the house. A large table was set up in the middle already laden with bowls of snacks. Next to that was a small lounge area with comfy looking couches arranged in a circle.

Jason sat on one couch idly flicking through what appeared to be a basketball magazine while occasionally lifting a hand to flick the pom-pom of his Santa hat back over his ear. Martha occupied another, bopping along to her ipod whilst tapping her hand against her bright green pants.

A grand piano stood off to the side, Kelsi sitting on the stool running her petite fingers over the keys, her elf hat sitting jauntily upon her head. Taylor was standing next to the fireplace, re-arranging the large pile of presents stacked up next to it, her chequered Christmas shirt appearing to glow in the firelight.

It would have seemed like the perfect tableau of Christmas tranquillity, except for the fact that Ryan, wearing enough silver to be the perfect spokesman for an aluminium foil company, was currently dangling from one of the curtain rods, a set of fairy lights clutched in one hand as his legs swung back and forth about a metre off the ground. Chad was nearby, holding the other end of the lights and almost doubled over in laughter so you could barely see the words '_On the Naughty List and Proud of It_' printed across his shirt.

"Hi guys!" Ryan called out, before swinging the lights up and around the curtain rod and leaping back down on the floor, in a move which would have seemed at home in a production of The Nutcracker.

"You are one crazy guy Evans," Chad exclaimed, handing over his end of the lights for Ryan to plug in, "Wouldn't it have been easier to use a ladder?"

"Maybe, but then I couldn't practice my leap for the New Year's Talent Show then could I?" Ryan replied, switching on the lights and admiring his handiwork. The coloured lights hung over the rod and down in front of the window, looking like tiny fireflies in full flight. Troy, who had watched this entire sequence with a look of amusement, slowly shook his head.

"Okay then, moving on. Merry Christmas everybody!"

"Yeah, Merry Christmas everyone!" Gabriella chimed in, getting over the shock of seeing Ryan hanging like a monkey off of the window. The two moved over to the fireplace to add their presents to the pile while Gabriella also placed the Christmas cake on the table between a bowl of star-shaped crisps and a plate of Santa-shaped turkey slices. They were answered by a cacophony of 'Merry Christmases', the guys exchanging one-armed hugs and handshakes while the girls chatted away, hugging each other tight and commenting on each other's outfits.

"I love those boots Gabi," Martha commented looking down. Upon hearing this, a smirk crossed Troy's face which prompted Gabriella to throw him a look which clearly said _'Not a word'_ before turning back to Martha.

"Thanks, I've had them for a while but I don't get to wear them a lot because they don't match many of my outfits. By the way, I love that hairclip," Gabriella replied, pointing to the sparkly green mistletoe-shaped clip in Martha's hair.

Taylor grinned, jumping in with a reply before Martha could even open her mouth, "She's just hoping that when we go carolling, one of the neighbours is a cute boy so she can point to that clip and say he has to kiss her."

"Taylor!" Martha lightly whacked her friend on the arm, "You're just jealous you didn't think of it first," she said with a knowing smile.

At this, Chad looked over from where he and the guys had been discussing the possibility of playing some basketball later and frowned.

"Hey, hey, the only pair of lips getting anywhere near Taylor will be these," he exclaimed, pointing towards his face as he smacked his lips together. Taylor just rolled her eyes and moved to kiss him on the cheek.

"Don't worry, you're the only guy I want to kiss."

At this Chad grinned but it faltered slightly when Taylor continued, "Of course, I would make an exception if I cornered Orlando Bloom under the mistletoe…"

"Wouldn't we all, right girls?" Kelsi asked dreamily, making Jason widen his eyes to look like a wounded puppy dog before sidling over to her and wrapping his arm around her shoulder in an attempt to distract her.

Both Gabriella and Martha sighed and nodded their heads in agreement, prompting Troy to repeat Jason's actions but towards Gabriella as Chad to put his hands in the air.

"Ok, that's enough of that! Our egos have taken enough of a bruising. You sure know how to make a guy feel inferior. It's Christmas, can't you all at least try and pretend that we're the only guys you think about?"

The girls exchanged glances.

"Where's the fun in that?" Gabriella giggled, looking up at Troy who had tightened his arm around her. Chad was about to reply when an almighty crash echoed throughout the room.

"What was that?!" Kelsi cried out, grabbing onto Jason's arm.

Ryan just sighed, rubbing his hand across his forehead, slightly knocking his sparkly silver fedora askew.

"I'd say that was my sister trying to help Zeke with the cookies."

The Wildcats exchanged disbelieving looks amid a long pause before,

"Wait a minute, you mean to tell me that Sharpay, our Sharpay, is…baking?" Troy asked incredulously.

"Well, if you call standing at the counter providing a running commentary on Zeke's skills while stealing cookie dough out of the bowl baking, then yes, she is," Ryan replied with a smile and a hint of sarcasm.

Sharpay chose that moment to burst through the doors, her sequined gold dress and jacket making her look like an extra from Fort Knox: The Musical. Zeke trailed behind, a plate of Christmas cookies balanced on one hand wearing a red apron made to look like a Santa suit and a wide smile on his face.

"Oh good, everyone's here. Let's get this party started shall we," Sharpay exclaimed dramatically, clapping her hands together.

"This should be fun," Chad muttered under his breath, causing Taylor to elbow him in the ribs as the gang headed to the table to start the festivities.


	4. Chapter 4 Deck The Halls

**Title:** The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

**Summary:** It's Christmas Eve and the Wildcats are gathering at the Evans' Mansion for a holiday party. Laughter, craziness and hijinks ensue!

**Pairings:** Troyella, Chaylor, Zekepay, Jelsi.

**Rating:** K+

**Disclaimer:** High School Musical and all its characters belong to Disney. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

_Chapter 4 – Deck The Halls_

Two hours, three courses, one small food fight and a whole lot of laughter later, the Wildcats were lounging around on the couches chatting quietly.

"Ugh, I ate so much, I feel like a whale," Gabriella complained. She was sitting next to Troy on one of the couches, her head resting against his shoulder while he softly stroked her arm. Kelsi and Jason were in a similar position next to them on the couch while Martha and Ryan sat on the floor, half-listening to the conversation, half-listening to Martha's ipod.

"Me too. Why do your cookies have to be so delicious Zeke?" Taylor chimed in, rubbing her stomach. She was sitting on the floor, her head resting against Chad's knee on the other couch. Sharpay sat on Zeke's lap beside them, his head resting on her bare shoulder. She'd discarded her jacket in a huff after he had complained that it was scratching his chin.

"Because if they weren't, I would have never been able to convince this lovely girl here to actually go out with me," Zeke replied, dropping a kiss on Sharpay's shoulder.

"Awww…," Sharpay sighed, twisting around to kiss him properly.

"Hey you two, cut it out! It's bad enough I have to deal with the sickly sweet PDA's between these two, I don't need to see it from you as well," Chad exclaimed, gesturing towards Troy and Gabriella, the former of which threw him a dirty look before nuzzling his nose into the latter's hair, causing her to giggle softly.

Taylor raised an eyebrow and swivelled around to look up at her boyfriend.

"So, hypothetically, if you said something sweet and I know that it's a foreign concept for you, but stick with me here. If you said something like what Zeke just said in public, you wouldn't want me to kiss you in thanks?"

Chad's mouth opened and closed several times as Ryan smirked,

"She's got you there. I'd think carefully before I answered that…"

"Uh, well…" Chad stuttered. Luckily for him, Jason chose that moment to pipe up with one of his inane questions.

"I wonder why they deck the halls? What's the point in punching a wall? That's not really behaving with Christmas spirit, is it?"

Everyone turned to stare at Jason in amazement and let out a collective groan.

"What?" he asked with a clueless expression on his face.

"That's my boyfriend, always thinking on a different level to the rest of us," Kelsi remarked with a smile, ruffling Jason's hair.

"Ok!" Sharpay, who had finally ceased kissing her boyfriend, clapped her hands and leapt up off of Zeke's lap, "It's time for presents! We'll do the special presents first then all the others alright?"

After receiving various nods of acknowledgement, Sharpay gave a pointed look to Ryan who got up and brought over the basket which had the extra gifts that everybody had been asked to bring and placed it in the middle of the circle formed by the couches. There was a brief pause before Sharpay cleared her throat and sent Ryan another look. With a sigh, he took off his fedora and passed it over to Sharpay, who dropped a handful of folded pieces of paper in it.

"Alright, here's how we do this. Everyone takes a piece of paper out of the hat. Each paper is numbered from one to ten. If you pull number one, you get first choice of the presents in the basket. The only rule is you must not pick the present you bought. You open the present and show everyone what it is. Then the person with number two goes and so on. If you pick a present that you don't like, you are able to swap once with anybody in the room who already has a present. That means that whoever gets number ten, will have the choice of any of the presents, got it?"

The gang blinked for a second then nodded slowly together.

"Good, pick out a number."

Sharpay held the hat out as everyone reached forward to grab a slip of paper.

"Oh man, I got number one," Martha complained.

"Woo-hoo, number nine! I am so going to get a good present!" Chad said gleefully, rubbing his hands together before looking around at the rest of them.

"Who got ten?"

Troy grinned, "That would be me," he said holding up the paper with the number ten written in bright prink sharpie. Chad eyed him for a second, seemingly weighing something up before nodding slowly, "That's cool, I know I don't have to worry about you stealing my present. I mean, we are brothers, right?" Chad's voice had gotten progressively less sure as he spoke, the last word coming out very hesitantly.

Troy didn't reply, instead choosing to flash Chad an enigmatic grin before turning his attention to Gabriella.

"What number did you get Miss Claus?" he asked, bending his head to snatch a look at her paper. Gabriella quickly folded it in half and answered with a smile, "Halve the number on your basketball jersey and subtract two."

"Aww, come on Gabi! Why can't you just tell me? I'm not the freaky math girl in this relationship, remember?" Troy jokingly complained.

Before Gabriella could respond Sharpay cleared her throat dramatically.

"Alright, it's showtime! Martha, since you have number one, take your pick." Martha started to move towards the pile of presents but was stopped when Chad jumped up.

"Hey, hang on a second! Troy didn't answer my question. You wouldn't take my present, right? Right?!"


	5. Chapter 5 Here Comes Santa Claus

**Title:** The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

**Summary:** It's Christmas Eve and the Wildcats are gathering at the Evans' Mansion for a holiday party. Laughter, craziness and hijinks ensue!

**Pairings:** Troyella, Chaylor, Zekepay, Jelsi.

**Rating:** K+

**Disclaimer:** High School Musical and all its characters belong to Disney. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

_Chapter 5 – Here Comes Santa Claus_

"I'll wash your truck."

"No."

"I'll buy you lunch at the cafeteria for a week."

"No."

"I'll do your homework for a month."

"Chad, you can't even keep up with your own!"

"I'll find a way, just please don't take the ticket from me, I'm begging you!"

Fifty minutes after Martha had started the game by picking out the present bought by Zeke, which turned out to be a gift voucher for a romantic dinner at the local fancy French restaurant; Chad was on his knees in the middle of the circle, looking up at Troy with an expression of utter desperation. The rest of the Wildcats were watching in amusement, all happy with the gifts they had ended up with except for Gabriella, who was the reason for the little scene playing out.

When she had picked out Ryan's gift which turned out to be one ticket to the upcoming Snow Patrol concert, she had been ecstatic. They were one of her favourite bands but she had missed out on buying a ticket herself. Her happiness hadn't lasted long though because she had lost it to Chad, who had swapped it for the 5-pack of action movie DVD's provided by Jason.

Gabriella was not prepared to give up on her chance to see her favourite band live that easily though and had shot her boyfriend the best puppy-dog eyes she could muster. As he had number ten, he could swap with anybody in the room and she was determined to convince him to swap his present with Chad's so she could go to the concert.

She was prepared to turn on the waterworks if need be (who knew taking lessons from Sharpay would actually come in handy) but she didn't have to bother. One look was enough to turn Troy into a pile of Bolton goo and he hadn't thought twice about swapping with Chad, even though he was perfectly happy with the gift voucher for the local electronics store he had ended up with.

"Sorry Chad, what my girl wants, my girl gets. Hand it over."

"Come on dude, haven't you ever heard the expression bro's before…"

"Finish that sentence Chad Danforth and you won't be able to walk straight for a week!" Taylor shouted, whacking him across the back of the head.

"Fine, fine. Here, take the ticket. I knew I should have gotten you to promise that you wouldn't swap with me. You are so totally whipped, you do know that?" Chad ranted as he handed over the ticket to Troy, who immediately presented it to Gabriella. She let out a very Sharpay-like squeal and wrapped her arms around his neck.

"Thank you, thank you, thank you! You are the best boyfriend a girl could have," Gabriella exclaimed, although since her face was buried against Troy's neck, it came out sounding like gibberish. Troy just smirked over her shoulder to Chad.

"I know, but she's worth it."

The rest of the girls sighed dreamily; Troy could be such a charmer at times.

"Why don't you ever do anything like that for me?" Taylor asked Chad.

"Hey, I took you out for dinner last week."

"Yeah, to McDonalds and you made me split the bill with you!"

"I'd just bought stuff at the store, I didn't have that much money!"

"That's no…"

"How about we move on to the regular presents?" Kelsi interjected before Taylor and Chad could turn their little tiff into World War 3.

"Sounds good to me," Zeke added, "I want to see if you guys like the presents I bought you."

Taylor let out an indignant huff and Chad crossed his arms but both subsided for the moment, moving to sit back on one of the couches, albeit at opposite ends.

"So how are we going to do this?" Ryan asked.

"I think we should have someone handing the presents out one at a time. That way we can see what everyone else gets," Sharpay replied, tossing her hair over her shoulder.

After some discussion and a short round of rock, paper, scissors later, Ryan was chosen to play Santa. He swapped his silver fedora for Jason's Santa hat and picked the first present off of the pile.

"Welcome all to the Wildcat Gift Giveaway where everyone's a winner. I have the first gift of the evening and the lucky recipient is…" Ryan called out, sounding like a game show host. Squinting his eyes to read the messy scrawl on the tag he continued, "The lovely Miss McKessie from…Chad."

Ryan hesitated on the name, aware of the tension which hadn't dissipated from their earlier fight.

Still slightly upset, Taylor grabbed the gift out of Ryan's hand and tore into the paper with more force than was necessary. She all of a sudden stopped, staring at whatever was nestled in the paper before looking up at Chad with an expression of pure amazement and gratitude.

"Is this…?"

Chad looked down, nodding slowly, slightly embarrassed. Taylor removed the paper to reveal a beautiful antique mahogany music box. It was engraved with a floral design and when Taylor lifted the lid, started to play the hauntingly sweet melody of Für Elise.

"I overheard you telling Gabriella that you wished you had enough money to buy it on that trip to the mall last month. I had it put on hold so I could save up to pay for it. That's why I didn't have enough money to pay for dinner the…"

Chad's sentence was cut off by Taylor who fused her lips to his. Pulling back after a second, Taylor grinned.

"Thank you. I take back everything I ever said about you not being sweet or romantic," she whispered before kissing him again.

"Hey, who's the ones with the sickly-sweet PDA's now, huh?" Troy smirked as the couple pulled apart, Taylor resting her head on Chad's shoulder. Gabriella hit him in the side, "Don't ruin the moment. Chad did something right for a change. Let him bask!"

"Yeah!" Chad echoed, a silly grin on his face that quickly turned into a frown.

"Wait, what do you mean for a change?"

His only answer was a gale of laughter.


	6. Chapter 6 All I Want For Christmas

**Title:** The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

**Summary:** It's Christmas Eve and the Wildcats are gathering at the Evans' Mansion for a holiday party. Laughter, craziness and hijinks ensue!

**Pairings:** Troyella, Chaylor, Zekepay, Jelsi.

**Rating:** K+

**Disclaimer:** High School Musical and all its characters belong to Disney. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

_Chapter 6 – All I Want For Christmas Is You_

After Chad and Taylor's little display, Ryan continued with the handing out of gifts. There were many squeals, hugs and high-fives shared as the Wildcats opened their presents. Martha started hip-hop dancing on the spot when she unwrapped the latest PS2 dance game from Sharpay, Jason and Chad were already wearing the signed Redhawk jackets from Troy while Zeke flipped through the numerous new recipe books he had received.

Ryan now had nine hats to add to his collection, Sharpay went ga-ga over the personalised make-up kit from Gabriella while Kelsi was already writing a new song in the special music notebook she had received from Jason.

When Gabriella was distracted reading the first few pages of the novel Taylor had given her, Troy, who'd swapped his red sweatshirt for Gabriella's gift of a black and gold Nike jumper, snuck over and talked in low tones with Ryan.

After a minute, the blonde-boy nodded, pointing at the door and motioning his hand to the left. Smiling in thanks, Troy headed back to his girlfriend, tapping her on the shoulder. Gabriella looked up in confusion as he grabbed her hand and ushered her out the door, their departure going un-noticed by all of their friends except Ryan.

"Troy, where are we going?" Gabriella asked as he led her down the hallway.

"You'll see. Now, was it the first left then right? Or was it the first right then left?" Troy muttered to himself.

After a couple of minutes and a few false turns, they arrived at a set of sliding glass doors. Sliding them open, Troy stepped aside to let Gabriella through. She found herself standing in a beautiful little tropical indoor garden populated with small ferns, palm trees and tropical flowers with a miniature waterfall trickling away in the corner.

"Wow, what is this place?" Gabriella asked in amazement.

Troy, equally as impressed, shrugged his shoulders.

"I'm not too sure, I just asked Ryan if there was someplace private where we could go and he directed me here."

Gabriella turned around with a suspicious look on her face.

"Someplace private? Why'd you bring me here Wildcat?"

Troy looked a little nervous and started to rub the back of his neck.

"Well, I have another present but I didn't want to give it to you in front of everybody," he explained sheepishly.

"Another present? Troy, you already spoiled me with the earrings, the perfume and the DVD's," Gabriella protested.

"I know, but this is something special I wanted to give you," he explained.

Reaching into his pocket he pulled out a small silver coloured box with a gold ribbon and placed it in Gabriella's hand. She inspected it closely before gently pulling the ribbon off and removing the lid.

"Oh Troy," she gasped, "It's gorgeous."

She lifted the contents out up into the light, revealing a shiny silver ring. It had a small heart-shaped ruby in the centre with a set of musical notes engraved on the outside of the band. Taking the ring from her fingers, Troy carefully slipped it onto the ring finger of her right hand. He then held both her hands in his and looked deeply into her eyes.

"The music notes are from the chorus to You're The Music In Me, you know, the song Kelsi wrote for us last summer," Troy explained, "Because that's what you are to me. You're the music, the fun, the love in my life. It's been almost a year since we first met and everyday since then my world has been a little bit brighter because of you. I don't know what the future holds, a lot of things are going to change in the coming months with college choices and graduation but I wanted you to have this ring as a promise that I'll always love you and will be the music for you, whenever you need it."

As he was speaking, tears had started to roll down Gabriella's face and when he finished his passionate declaration she immediately wrapped her arms around him, burying her head into his chest.

"That has to be the cheesiest thing anyone has ever said to me," she managed to choke out.

"That's a good thing, right?" Troy asked uncertainly.

Pulling back from the hug, Gabriella gave a watery grin as Troy gently wiped the tears from her face.

"Don't worry; it's a good thing. Your cheesiness is one of the things I love about you."

Standing on her tiptoes, she pulled his head down for an earth-shattering, soul-freeing, jelly-knee inducing embrace. For several minutes they both poured every ounce of love they felt for one another into that single kiss before air became a slight issue and they pulled back.

"I love you, Gabi," Troy whispered, brushing a stray curl back behind her ear.

"I love you too Troy," Gabriella replied before sealing her lips to his once more.

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Meanwhile, the rest of the Wildcats were still pre-occupied with their gifts until Sharpay, after checking the clock, suddenly exclaimed,

"8:00pm! We were supposed to start carolling half an hour ago! Right, Girls, grab those bells off of the fireplace. Boys, stop throwing that basketball around and grab your coats. Wait a minute, where's Troy and Gabriella?"

The gang glanced around the room, only just noticing the couple's absence. Ryan started to explain but at that moment, the two in question entered the room. Their hands were linked together and both had enormous grins lighting up their faces.

"Where have you been? Oh, never mind, we don't have time. Come on, let's go, out the door!" Sharpay ushered a bewildered Troy and Gabriella back out the way they came with everyone else following, shaking their heads at her antics.


	7. Chapter 7 Carol Of The Bells

**Title:** The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

**Summary:** It's Christmas Eve and the Wildcats are gathering at the Evans' Mansion for a holiday party. Laughter, craziness and hijinks ensue!

**Pairings:** Troyella, Chaylor, Zekepay, Jelsi.

**Rating:** K+

**Disclaimer:** High School Musical and all its characters belong to Disney. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

_Chapter 7 – Carol Of The Bells_

"I was right, visible from space."

"Huh?"

"Nothing."

Gabriella, Troy and the rest of the Wildcats were walking across the Evans' front yard to their neighbour's house to start off the carolling fun. Night had fallen a few hours ago and the garden was lit up in its full glory, the Christmas lights blindingly bright just as Gabriella had predicted.

She was walking hand in hand with Troy at the back of the group. They'd already been interrogated by their friends about their disappearing act while putting on their coats back at the house. Sharpay, Martha and Taylor had all cried in delight and demanded to see the ring, Kelsi having already seen it when she'd helped Troy make sure the jeweller had the right notes for the engraving. That reaction had prompted the guys to roll their eyes and jokingly complain how Troy was making them look bad in the romance stakes.

"Ok, so let's go over this," Sharpay called out.

"We're keeping it short and sharp. Kelsi, Jason, Chad, Taylor, Zeke and Martha will be playing the bells and singing back-up for the rest of us. We'll have a different carol for each house and no funny business. Ryan and I have to still live next to these people after this."

Everyone nodded quickly in agreement, not wanting to upset Sharpay. She was anxious to make a good impression on her neighbours, and none of them, not even Chad, wanted to risk a full-blown ice queen hissy fit just to have some fun at her expense. After all, it was Christmas Eve.

The first five houses they visited had gone off without a hitch. With Troy, Gabriella, Sharpay and Ryan doing the bulk of the singing, they had received applause from all of the Evans' neighbours. Martha had even provided a little hip-hop dance when they sang a fast version of Jingle Bells to the young Stottlemeyer family from number 7.

At the sixth house however, things went a little awry. The occupants, the Caldwell's, were a middle-aged couple who were the infamous neighbours from Sharpay's little tale which she'd woken Gabriella up with that morning. Carolling for them seemed doomed from the start when they'd answered the door with a slightly rude,

"What do you want?"

"Hi Mr Caldwell, Mrs Caldwell. I'm Sharpay Evans from across the street. My friends and I are carolling on our street tonight. Would you like to hear a song?" Sharpay gave the same introduction she'd given at the previous houses, although her voice was slightly more strained than it had been.

"Fine, but make it quick," Mr Caldwell replied gruffly.

Not letting the cool reception phase her, Sharpay turned to the group.

"Ok guys, a 1 and a 2 and a 1,2,3,4. Rocking around the Christmas tree, at the Christmas party hop, Mistletoe hung where you can see, every couple tries to…Ow!, Ahhh!, Watch out!, _CRASH_!"

It all seemed to happen in slow motion. Zeke, slightly over-enthusiastic with his bell ringing, had let go of the instrument in mid-ring, causing it to fly through the air and strike Chad square in the forehead. Then in a chain reaction, Chad had dropped his bell on Taylor's foot, who proceeded to hop in pain knocking Jason off balance, causing him to bump into Sharpay's back. Now Sharpay was wearing a pair of sparkly gold heels which were not very stable so when bumped by Jason, she fell head first into the Caldwell's front hall, knocking over the expensive vase sitting on a pedestal next to the front door. The vase hit the ground with a bone-shaking crash, pieces scattering all over the floor.

"My vase!" Mrs Caldwell cried out in horror.

"Oh, Sharpay, Are you ok?" Gabriella frantically asked as Troy leant down to help Sharpay back up.

"Uh, I'm fine, just a little dizzy," Sharpay replied, holding a hand to her head.

"Well I'm not," Chad butted in, "Man, those bells are heavy."

A formidable size lump was already forming on his head and Taylor was nursing her bruised foot.

"Yeah," she agreed, "What are they, made of concrete or something?"

Zeke opened his mouth to start apologising but was cut off by Mrs Caldwell screeching, "You did this on purpose!"

"Huh? What?" Ryan stuttered as everyone else looked shocked.

Mrs Caldwell pointed her finger at Sharpay menacingly.

"You did this on purpose as payback for me calling your father the other day! Just you wait till I tell him what you did this time!"

"Mrs Caldwell, it was an acci…" Sharpay's explanation fell on deaf ears as Mr Caldwell slammed the door shut in their faces. Everyone waited with baited breath for Sharpay to throw a fit, but after a moment of silence she started giggling uncontrollably instead. Her laughter was infectious and pretty soon all of the Wildcats were in peals of laughter as they walked out of the Caldwell's yard.

"You should have seen your face," Kelsi exclaimed amidst her giggles pointing at Zeke, "When Sharpay knocked the vase over you looked like someone had just told you that you could never bake again."

"I was worried about Sharpay, that fall looked nasty," Zeke protested. He'd wrapped his arm around Sharpay to help steady her as she was still a little wobbly.

"More like you were afraid that Hurricane Sharpay would bear down on you with full force when she realised you caused it to happen," Ryan chimed in.

"I would never do that to my Zeke!" Sharpay cried out dramatically before continuing, "Besides, that Mrs Caldwell is a witch. I just wish I'd knocked the vase into her instead of onto the floor."

"Oh, so that's why you two don't get along. You don't want any competition," Ryan said cheekily. Everyone turned as one to look at Sharpay whose face was rapidly turning red. Ryan, realising that that remark was perhaps not the best idea he had ever had, took off running down the street.

"You take that back Ryan Lucas Bartholomew Evans!" Sharpay shouted, stopping momentarily to remove her heels, handing them to her boyfriend before sprinting off after her brother, her yells echoing throughout the neighbourhood.

"Oh to have a twin," Gabriella remarked with a sigh. The Wildcats smiled in agreement and set off down the street, following the sounds of Sharpay's screeches.


	8. Chapter 8 The Most Wonderful Time

**Title:** The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

**Summary:** It's Christmas Eve and the Wildcats are gathering at the Evans' Mansion for a holiday party. Laughter, craziness and hijinks ensue!

**Pairings:** Troyella, Chaylor, Zekepay, Jelsi.

**Rating:** K+

**Disclaimer:** High School Musical and all its characters belong to Disney. I'm just borrowing them for a while.

_Chapter 8 – The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year_

'_It's the most wonderful time of the year, There'll be much mistletoeing,' _crooned Amy Grant softly through the speakers. After their little carolling jaunt (and Sharpay and Ryan's subsequent chase around the neighbourhood), the ten friends were once again lounging around at the Evans' mansion. The fire was crackling quietly and the Wildcats were enjoying a moment of peace in the last few hours of Christmas Eve.

"Truly blessed," Gabriella sighed out of the blue before blushing as the rest of the gang turned to her.

"What did you say Gabi?" Troy asked.

"Nothing…I, well…I was just thinking that it's been almost a year since I met all of you and how blessed I am to have you as friends. Being here in Albuquerque, I've had the time of my life," Gabriella elaborated, the blush still prominent on her cheeks.

Troy nodded in agreement, placing a kiss on her hair, "I can go along with that. Who would have thought a year ago we would all be sitting here together on Christmas Eve?"

Everyone nodded in agreement, silently reflecting on the events which had brought them, a group of vastly different individuals, together in a bond which had survived through many hardships. Taylor lifted the glass of egg nog she was holding in the air and purposefully cleared her throat.

"I propose a toast. To friends who let you ring them up at midnight and listen to you complain about what your boyfriend did wrong now!" she exclaimed, before lightly elbowing Chad in the ribs as a sign to add his two cents worth.

"Uh, To friends who will sit with you and watch basketball games for 24 hours straight!" he exclaimed, high-fiving the guys.

"To friends who turn up at your dance competition wearing t-shirts saying _Dance Their Socks Off Girl_ " Martha chimed in.

"To friends who let you drag them to every store in the mall so you can find the perfect hat for the Fall Formal," Ryan added with a smile.

"To friends who forgive you even after you act like a total ice queen and try and ruin their lives with an evil scheme!"

Everyone grinned at Sharpay's contribution before turning to Zeke expectantly.

"To friends who are willing to be guinea pigs and try all of your recipes before the city-wide bake-off, no matter how bad they turned out."

"To friends that go around singing your compositions at the top of their lungs in downtown Albuquerque in the hopes that the visiting big-shot music producer will hear them and sign you up as a song-writer," Kelsi grinned shyly.

"To friends who wake you up in the middle of class before the teacher notices that you fell asleep again," Jason said sheepishly.

Troy smiled at Gabriella before raising his glass and adding, "To friends who understand when you cancel plans with them to hang with your girlfriend when she's feeling a little down."

"And finally, to friends who love you for who you are, even if that is a singing freaky math girl lifeguard," Gabriella giggled out.

"To friendship!" Taylor cried out.

"To friendship!"

Everyone clinked their glasses together, laughter echoing throughout the room when Chad started to cough from gulping the egg nog down to fast.

"See, that's what happens when you drink like a pig," Taylor snorted.

"Hey, if anyone's the pig, it's Ryan. Have you seen him eat Gabi's Mom's brownies? He's like a human vacuum!" Chad protested.

"Well at least I don't…"

Gabriella just sighed, tuning out the argument as she rested her head against Troy's shoulder. No matter what was going to happen in the year to come, she knew she would forever carry the memory of this Christmas Eve in her heart. Having a group of friends like these truly made this the most wonderful time of the year.


End file.
